Most likely to succeed. Best looking. Most athletic. Senior superlatives are a staple of many high schools. Friendliest. Most popular. Grumpiest. Wait. What??? Grumpiest? Yep. Grumpiest.
I was incredulous as I looked at the Greenhills High School Pioneer school newspaper. I had been voted grumpiest of my senior class. A weird part of me was flattered that enough of my classmates had even noticed that I existed enough to vote for me. I felt mostly invisible in my time in high school. Not popular; not unpopular. Just invisible. Another part of me was puzzled by it. I didn’t feel especially grumpy. My mother said that she thought it was because I could appear to be aloof, even though I’m not. I didn’t think I was aloof, but I did know I was uncomfortable in social situations.
When I tell people that I was voted grumpiest, they can’t believe it. They know me as a generally upbeat person. Knowing what I know now, I know that I wasn’t grumpy. I was and still am, introverted. I once read a statement that summed it up simply. Extraverts are energized by social interactions; introverts are exhausted by them. It’s not that we can’t do social situations or don’t enjoy them, it’s just that we need plenty of time alone afterwards to recover.
Perhaps that should have been the superlative. Most extraverted. Most introverted. Nah. We introverts would rather not be nominated for anything at all.
Here’s an interesting article about “15 Traits Introverts Have That Most People Don’t Understand”